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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417014">Irgon and Yptassia</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krwzprtt/pseuds/Krwzprtt'>Krwzprtt</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Style, Framing device - Sometime in the Old Republic, Gen, Musing on the nature of the Force, Science Fantasy, and Luke's speech about the Force in The Last Jedi, mostly based on personal thinking about the force and the dark side</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 09:00:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,362</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krwzprtt/pseuds/Krwzprtt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>And old tale, passed down through generations in the Jedi Order.<br/>A thinking piece on heroes and the dark side.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Irgon and Yptassia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>                The Younglings gathered in the meditation room. It was time for philosophy. A class most of them didn’t like, but often found themselves better by the end. They were waiting for the arrival of Master Nopde, one of the wisest Jedi Masters in the temple. They were waiting, some staring at the window, out in the horizon of the city and its myriad of activity and ships.</p><p>                “Hello, children.” Master Nopde entered the room. The Younglings straightened in their seats, all arranged in a circle, as Nopde sat in the teacher’s chair. “Now, could one of you tell me where we were last week?”</p><p>                “I think we talked about the fall of the Sith,” said one of the younglings.</p><p>                “Ah, yes. Could you tell me what you remember and got out of it?”</p><p>                “That the Sith were bad?” tried another, launching laughter in her schoolmates.</p><p>                Nopde chuckled. “They were. But also?”</p><p>                “…that…the dark side…is also bad?”</p><p>                “It is.”</p><p>                A youngling, slightly younger than the rest, raised their voice. “Master, I don’t understand. You’ve told us the way of the Sith led to destruction. Of oneself as of the other. So, why would people follow this way if it’s wrong?”</p><p>                Nopde smiled at them. “Wrong? A Sith would have argued that destruction isn’t wrong. We would argue it usually is. The force is too complex and vast for things to just be wrong or right.”</p><p>                “You mean a Sith could have been right?”</p><p>                “In a way. The view the Sith had on the Force was vile and destructive, but it did allow them to wield it. And even amongst those who tread far from the dark side, you can find two masters of identical might and wisdom that share completely different views on the very nature of the Force.</p><p>                It reminds me of a story. Have you heard the tale of Irgon and Yptassia?”</p><p>                The Younglings shook their head.</p><p>                “Who here knows of Irgon?”</p><p>                One rose his hand. “It’s…a great hero? From before the Jedi?”</p><p>                “…not quite. In the time her tales take place, the Jedi existed, but our ways weren’t much known. She followed her own path. In many ways, she was a lot like the Jedi. In several others, she wasn’t.</p><p>The tale of her and Yptassia is one about her youth. When she was new to the ways of the Force.”</p><p>Nopde waved a hand, and the windows of the room darkened. An orb on the ceiling lit up, projecting colors and shapes at the Master’s will, illustrating the tale he was weaving.</p><hr/><p>                Back then, there was no Jedi Order. The Sith, however, were many, and the galaxy was shrouded in darkness. But she knew they were evil, and swore to fight them. She knew not how someone like her could stand up to the might of the Sith. Then, one day, she landed on a distant planet, far in the outer rim. Her ship was damaged from a fight with the forces of darkness. She was almost falling to despair, thinking there was no way she could win.</p><p>                But the moment she stepped foot on the planet’s ground, she felt something. A terrible presence, a great shadow that loomed over the land. Every step she took, every conversation with the local she made, she could feel it. Like…a presence. A dark one. The people she talked to looked scared, weak, and twitchy.</p><p>                The mechanic told her that her ship would take three days to fix. Irgon, unable to ignore the presence she felt, asked to the mechanic what was wrong with this place. Why she suddenly felt watched, like a prey feeling the stare of a predator. The mechanic shuddered, and told her a witch lived here. A witch that came in the town at night and drove children to madness. That spread illness, and whose shadow brought accidents and disasters. That killed anyone who stood in her path, and who, even from her lair hidden in the wild, tormented the innocent and the fearful.</p><p>                People from isolated worlds tend to fear the Force and those who wield it. So in long lost time, they would call them witches and wizards. Even the good ones. Even those who barely knew their powers. But Irgon knew the presence she felt wasn’t a good one. And she knew it was the presence of one who knew their power well.</p><p>                Scared but curious, Irgon went outside of town. A mountain stood near. She could feel in her heart that whoever this was, they were there.</p><p>                So Irgon went to see the witch. She climbed the mountain, following her instincts. Irgon didn’t know much about the Force yet. She hadn’t learned to feel things through it, but somehow she now knew just where to go.</p><p>                She ended up near the top of the mountain. A house stood there, lying on a small pass between cliffsides, looking over the valley and the town. It looked…normal, but it felt old. And watching. Irgon’s determination was growing dimmer. As she stepped in front of the door, she shuddered, as a faint voice of reason in her ordered her to go back.</p><p>                But then the door opened. “Come in,” Irgon heard.</p><p>                Irgon stood still.</p><p>                “Don’t be shy. Come in,” the voice went again.</p><p>                Irgon crossed the threshold, entering the house. It looked pretty, and well decorated, but the art depicted horrors and wars. She led herself through the rooms, still following an invisible thread her mind could feel.</p><p>                It led her to a small room, with a glass wall opening to the view of the valley. Two chairs faced the wall. One of them was taken.</p><p>                “Who are you?” asked the woman in the chair.</p><p>                “My name is Irgon. I travel to bring peace to the galaxy,” Irgon answered.</p><p>                “How noble. Do you know who I am?”</p><p>                “I know what you do. I know the people of the city fear you. I know you are trained in the ways of the Force.”</p><p>                “As are you. I saw you the second your ship made it in the atmosphere. And I know you tried to stare back.”</p><p>                The chair spun around. A humanoid shape sat in it, cloaked in black, face barely peeking through.</p><p>                “You can call me Yptassia,” the witch said. “Why are you here?”</p><p>                “I couldn’t look away. Your stare, even all the way from here…it was too much to ignore.”</p><p>                Yptassia let out a small chuckle. “I admit I’ve been curious myself. Too few people awaken to the Force in this region. Seeing you arrive was like spotting a rare bird in the sky. Though your presence was very unimpressive.”</p><p>                “Unlike yours. I can feel your aura. I can feel the dark side raging through you. You’re a Sith, aren’t you?”</p><p>                “No. I’ve never liked their creed. Too foolish. Too childish.”</p><p>                “Then of what creed are you?”</p><p>                “Mine. The truest one, the one that lets me split the skies and rend flesh. Why? Are you looking for one?”</p><p>                Irgon stood silent.</p><p>                “…you are,” Yptassia said. “You’re still young in the ways of the force.”</p><p>                “I can’t take up your dark ways.”</p><p>                “Then leave the planet and face the Sith creedless. Their creed might be foolish, but it is effective.”</p><p>                “And why would you teach me?”</p><p>                “Amusement, perhaps. I’m growing tired of spreading misery, sickness and dementia in that pile of dung down there.</p><p>                But it takes a lot to entertain me. Here’s my bargain, hero. I will give you three days. Three days, and no nights. If by the time the sun sets on the third day, you haven’t progressed, I will kill you.</p><p>                And be reassured. I will keep my teachings…let’s say dark-less.”</p><p>                “I accept your bargain, dark one.”</p><p>                “Splendid.”</p><p>                So Yptassia took Irgon to the forest.</p><p>                “Tell me of the Force,” Yptassia said.</p><p>                “It is a great power. I feel it everywhere, and it can do great things.”</p><p>                “That is true.”</p><p>                “And if I focus enough, I can make it do the impossible. Tell me things that I can’t see, move things that I can’t touch.”</p><p>                “Then do it. Make the Force do something.”</p><p>                Irgon focused on a pile of rocks nearby. She used every inch of willpower she had to order the Force to move the rock. But it barely flinched.</p><p>                Yptassia laughed, and in a swipe of the hand, turned the rocks to dust.</p><p>                “You’re wrong. The Force cannot obey you. Because you cannot command it. It’s not yours to.”</p><p>                The sun left the horizon, and Yptassia went back to her home.</p><p>                “Go back to the town.”</p><p>                And Irgon slept in the town, worry in her mind.</p><p>                On the second day, Irgon went back to the forest and met with Yptassia. She led her to the top of the mountain.</p><p>                “If I cannot control the force, how could I use it?”</p><p>                “You can’t use the Force if your goal is to control it. You, me, the rocks and the sky…this is all a part of a same thing. And the Force stands above it. You can’t control it because it is out of your reach.”</p><p>                “But you control the Force. You used it to destroy the rocks.”</p><p>                “I don’t. I controlled the rocks.”</p><p>                Yptassia waved her hand, and darkness surrounded Irgon.</p><p>                “I am all mighty. I could snap your life with a thought. Yet, I am but an insect to the Force.”</p><p>                “Then why can you use it?”</p><p>                “Because of the great paradox of existence. The key to make the Force your ally.”</p><p>                “What could that be?”</p><p>                “You must be endlessly humble to the Force, but endlessly commanding to the universe.”</p><p>                The darkness dispelled.</p><p>                “Stay here, and think about that. I’ll come back by sunset.”</p><p>                Irgon sat by the peak in thoughts. She meditated, trying to feel the Force flow through her.</p><p>                Hours went by. Yptassia came back, as promised, when twilight began.</p><p>                Yptassia stared at Irgon.</p><p>                “You haven’t progressed much,” she said. “You might want to start getting serious if you want to live.”</p><p>She turned her back. “Go back to the town”.</p><p>                Before she left, Irgon raised her voice: “I don’t get it. How can one use the force without commanding it?”</p><p>                “The Force is not a weapon. It’s a part of you. A link to the universe and everything that lies in it. Using it isn’t commanding it, it’s letting it carry your willpower.</p><p>                Go back to the town.”</p><p>                And Irgon slept in town, fear in her mind.</p><p>                And as the third day began, Irgon went back to the forest, and met with Yptassia in her house.</p><p>                “Convince me not to kill you,” said Yptassia.</p><p>                Irgon focused, and raised her hand to the glass wall. Conjuring as much willpower to get the force to break it.</p><p>                Yptassia shook her head slightly, and raised her hand.</p><p>                “I’m not convinced.”</p><p>                Irgon’s mind filled with fear.</p><p>                “Don’t. Fear is bad for the mind.”</p><p>                Irgon closed her eyes, and focused back on herself. Trying to feel her connection to the Force.</p><p>                “Still not convinced.”</p><p>                Irgon opened her eyes. She then focused on the glass wall.</p><p>                “Ah. That’s better.”</p><p>                Yptassia looked in Irgon’s mind. She saw it get devoid of fear, worry or anger. It just became filled with one thought: break.</p><p>                And Yptassia felt Irgon’s presence grow, shouting: break.</p><p>                Yptassia lowered her hand. Irgon didn’t see it. She only thought of the wall. And now, she was ordering it to break.</p><p>                And it broke.</p><p>                “…and we’re still hours before sunset. I would have thought you’d take longer than that to get it.</p><p>                Remember: don’t order the Force. Order the world, and the Force will carry it. And then, the world will obey.</p><p>                Leave, now.”</p><p>                “Why?” Irgon asked. “I felt the hatred and poison of the Sith. And while I once thought you were the same, I see now with clearer eyes. Your mind is cold. Unfeeling and free of their self-inflicted madness. So why?”</p><p>                “Why what?”</p><p>                “Why torment the people of the town? Why do you go down, and inflict sickness, wounds, death and destruction? Why use the Force in such a way?”</p><p>                “Because it amuses me. Because I don’t think it matters.”</p><p>                “I’m leaving the planet tonight. But be sure that one day I will return. Older and stronger. And on that day, I will take your evil out of the world.”</p><p>                “I know.”</p><p>                And Irgon left.</p><hr/><p>                “So,” said Nopde, “this is the story of Irgon and Yptassia.”</p><p>                “That’s it? What happened to Irgon next?” asked the youngest youngling.</p><p>                “Adventures, I presume. It’s hard to tell. Her stories are hard to connect. Some doubt she even existed in the first place. But that’s not what matters. What matters is what the story can tell us.</p><p>                So, what did you think of it?”</p><p>                “It’s weird,” said another, “a hero like her shouldn’t follow the teaching of someone like Yptassia, right?”</p><p>                “Maybe it wasn’t ideal, but it worked out. It’s hard to say with certainty what decisions were right and wrong, sometimes.”</p><p>                “Why did Yptassia help Irgon and let her go? If she knew Irgon would come back to stop her?” asked the oldest of the younglings.</p><p>                “Maybe she was so bored she wanted an enemy,” offered another.</p><p>                “Maybe she wanted someone to stop her?”</p><p>                Nopde didn’t intervene.</p><p>                “Master,” a youngling hesitated, “the things Yptassia told Irgon, they look a lot like things you said to us.”</p><p>                “They do.”</p><p>                “How can someone as bad as her follow beliefs like ours?”</p><p>                “Many great sages have given interpretations of the story. Some call it a foolish act from Irgon’s youth, in the grand scheme of her life. Some think it’s a teaching on the complexity of the Force. To me…it’s about the nature of the dark side.”</p><p>                “How so?”</p><p>                “Yptassia knew ways very similar to those of the Jedi. And by the end, so did Irgon. But one was a monster and the other a hero.</p><p>                Maybe the difference is just what they chose to be. Maybe the Force doesn’t make the dark side as much as we do.”</p><p>                Nopde waved his hand, and the windows let back the light from outside.</p><p>                “That’ll be all for today.”</p>
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